Closure attachment for boxes



NOV. 12, 1963 WAGNER 3,110,435

CLOSURE ATTACHMENT FOR BOXES Filed June 12, 1962 INVENTOR lRV/N D WAGNER.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,110,436 CLOSURE ATTACHMENT FOR BOXES Irvin D. Wagner, 381 E. Derry Road, Hershey, Pa. Filed June 12, 1962, Ser. No. 201,876 3 Claims. (Cl. 229-43) The present invention relates to a closure attachment for boxes, and more particularly to a closure attachment which may be placed upon a box having the flaps thereof turned downwardly and which attachment has an opening therein with a flexible panel for closing the opening.

At the present time, breakfast food, such as cereal, is widely packaged in paperboard cartons which are generally rectangular in cross section and have flaps at their ends, both the side walls and end walls of the cartons being provided with these flaps. The flaps are usually folded over and glued, so as to provide a sealed package. When this package of cereal is purchased, it is ordinarily used by the purchaser as the storage container for the cereal. To gain access to the cereal, it is conventional to either tear off one or more of the flaps, or partially tear off one or more of the flaps. Where the carton is provided with perforations, the line of perforations must be completely broken through and the top portion of the carton bent back. in still other carton configurations, it is necessary that flaps which have been glued together be pulled apart.

With any of the above constructions and attendant opening operation, there results one or more flaps which are not firmly held in place, but which are free to assume any position which the inherent resiliency of the paper board determines. This results in *a number of cartons in the ordinary householders cupboard which have flaps extending at random angles from them. This gives a very unsightly appearance to the cupboard. In addition, the loose and extending flaps from different cereal boxes may eadily engage one another, causing one box to be pulled down from the cupboard when another box is intended to be removed. Also, when the flaps are opened so as to permit dispensing of the cereal from within the carton into a bowl, the outstanding flaps may strike objects on the table and turn them over, such objects being milk glasses and sugar bowls, for example.

Once cereal has been obtained from the carton, the flaps tend to remain open and thus there is danger of undesired foreign matter falling into the cereal, with attendant danger that this foreign substance may be ingested.

An object of the present invention is to provide a closure attachment for boxes which may be readily opened and closed.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a closure attachment for boxes which may be easily engaged with an opened box.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a closure attachment for boxes which may be readily fabricated of .economical materials, and which will not require expensive manufacturing techniques.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a closure attachment for boxes which will ofler a neat and attractive appearance either when viewed separately or when on the box.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a closure attachment for boxes which will offer, together with the box, a neat and attractive appearance.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will be readily understood from the following specification and drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a closure attachment in accordance with the present invention, being lowered onto an opened cereal box.

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like or corresponding reference numerals are used to designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in FIG. 1 a cereal box generally designated 10. The box 10 is of generally rectangular form, having a pair of end walls and a pair of side walls, the end walls being designated 11 and 12 and the side walls being designated 13 and 14. Each of these walls has, at the upper end thereof, a down-folded flap, flaps 21, 22 and 23 being seen in FIG. 1.

Above the carton or box 10 is a closure attachment 30, which comprises a top 31 of generally rectangular configuration and substantially conforming to the cross sectional size and shape of the box It An opening 32, also of rectangular shape, extends through the top 31. At each side of the opening 32, in the top 31, there is a groove 33, which may be formed by a ledge spaced slightly below the top 31, the ledge being designated 34.

The groove 33 and ledge 34 are clearly shown in FIG. 2, and in FIG. 3 it may be seen that the groove 33 and ledge 34 extend across the left end of opening 32.

Near the right end of opening 32 there depends from the undersidey'of top 31 a deflector 36. The deflector 36 carries extensions 37 and 38 of the groove 33 and ledge 34, respectively, these being joined to groove 33 and ledge 34 by arcuate connection portions.

A flexible panel 46 is supported in and guided by the grooves 33 and 37, flexible panel 40 having a button 4-1 or depression 41 or other suitable means by which it may be manipulated. As will be readily understood, when the button 41 is moved to the right, from the position shown in FIG. 3, it will cause the entire flexible panel 40 to move to the right, and the right hand end of flexible panel 49 will be deflected downwardly by the deflector 36, so that the parts can assume the dotted line position shown in FIG. 3, thus providing an opening in the top 31. The partially opened attachment 30 may also be seen in FIG. 1.

When the flexible panel 40 is moved entirely to the left, as shown in FIG. 3, the leading edge thereof Will extend into the groove 33 at the left end of opening 32, to thereby completely and securely close the opening and prevent any possibility of a foreign body falling into the box.

Depending from the top 31, and preferably integral therewith, are skirt means comprising 4 walls 42, 43-, 44 and 45, which may be seen in the several figures of the drawing. Each of the Walls is provided with a spaced upturned lip, generally designated 46, and in practice the lips 46 for each wall may be integral with each other and with the walls to which they are attached.

When positioning a closure attachment 30 in accordance with the present invention on a carton 16) which has the flaps thereof turned downwardly as is shown in FIG. 1, it is only necessary to move the attachment 3t? downwardly so that it telescopes over the end of the carton 10. When this occurs, the attachment 30 will descend down over the carton top until the fold which joins the carton walls to the carton flaps strikes the under- 7 side of the top 31. At this point, the carton flaps will have sprung outwardly, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and will thereby be held in place between the lips 46 and the walls of the attachment 36. Thus, they cannot be moved from this locking position to a release position without deliberate manipulation of the attachment 3?! and carton 10. It will accordingly be seen that the attachment 30 is not only readily applied to the carton 10,

32 but is securely held thereon against accidental dislodgment therefrom.

As is seen in FIG. 3, the deflector 36 is spaced sulficiently far from end wall 42 of attachment 30 that the end wall 11 of the carton It) will lie between deflector 36 and end wall 42. p

The entire closure attachment 30 may be readily made of such economical materials as plastics, and may be molded in one or a few simple pieces. Similarly, the assembly of the flexible panel 4%) into the remaining structure of closure attachment 3% may be readily accomplished, and panel 41) itself may be fabricated of extremely economical materials.

There has been provided a closure attachment which may be easily placed upon an open carton of cereal, or the like, and which is held securely thereon against accidental dislodgment. The closure attachment of the present invention provides a closure device which may be readily opened or closed to permit dispensing of the contents of a carton and to permit safe and sure closing of the entire carton and closure attachment assembly. Additionally, the closure attachment herein above described may be manufactured of extremely economical material and assembled quickly and with minimum expenditure.

It Will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made Without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore the invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is: p

1. A closure attachment for boxes, said attachment comprising a top panel having an opening therein, downwardly extending deflecting means carried by said top panel adjacent one end of said opening, cooperating guide means on said top and on said deflecting means providing an arcuate slideway extending along said opening and downwardly from said one end of said opening along said deflecting means, closure means comprising a flexible panel slidably positioned in said slideway, said flexible panel being slidably moveable in said slideway from a first position where said flexible panel closes said opening to a second position where said flexible panel is at least partially out of closing relation to said opening and is deflected onto said deflecting means.

2. A closure attachment as defined in claim 1 and further including depending skirt means extending from the periphery of said top panel for releasably securing said top panel on a box and wherein said opening is elongate, said one end of said opening being in spaced relation from the end edges of said top panel, and said deflector means extending downwardly within the peripheral bounds of said top panel.

3. A closure attachment as defined in claim 2 wherein said skirt means comprises side and end walls and Wherein said side and end walls carry upturned lip means at the base thereof for engagement With box flaps.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,104,321 Gersten Jan. 4, 1938 2,413,923 Kackley Jan. 7, 1947 2,564,252 Dickson Aug. 14, 1951 

1. A CLOSURE ATTACHMENT FOR BOXES, SAID ATTACHMENT COMPRISING A TOP PANEL HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN, DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING DEFLECTING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID TOP PANEL ADJACENT ONE END OF SAID OPENING, COOPERATING GUIDE MEANS ON SAID TOP AND ON SAID DEFLECTING MEANS PROVIDING AN ARCUATE SLIDEWAY EXTENDING ALONG SAID OPENING AND DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID ONE END OF SAID OPENING ALONG SAID DEFLECTING MEANS, CLOSURE MEANS COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE PANEL SLIDABLY POSITIONED IN SAID SLIDEWAY, SAID FLEXIBLE PANEL BEING SLIDABLY MOVEABLE IN SAID SLIDEWAY FROM A FIRST POSITION WHERE SAID FLEXIBLE PANEL CLOSES SAID OPENING TO A SECOND POSITION WHERE SAID FLEXIBLE PANEL IS AT LEAST PARTIALLY OUT OF CLOSING RELATION TO SAID OPENING AND IS DEFLECTED ONTO SAID DEFLECTING MEANS. 